“Everyone, clear the floor.” Oriana’s voice rang out, echoing off the marble walls.
Everyone moved to obey her before they could think of doing otherwise.
“Musicians, play something our happy couple can dance to.”
The floor was clearing.
For the first time, I realized there were musicians in the corner of the hall.
I froze as my heart skipped a beat. A dance, oh, no. I knew Oriana meant to banish bad memories from Briar’s mind with this gesture. Wouldn’t it just bring them back? A dance was what had broken her heart to begin with.
I turned to my beloved to see that my fears were groundless. Briar’s lips parted in a lovely smile, which promised happily ever after.
“May I have this dance?” She held out a snow-white hand to me.
What could I do but accept her hand, my heart beating as if it was about to burst out of my chest?
On impulse, I turned to the court.
“We’re opening this dance.” I could feel the mischief creeping into my own smile. “As Lord Harold said, we’re a queer couple. If you’d like to honor our queerness, please feel free to join us with someone you might not normally dance with at a ball.”
With those words, I took my beloved’s other hand and led her out onto the dance floor.
Usually, it was a man who led. To avoid confusion, I started out by leading.
There was a pause in the dance when I stumbled.
Briar caught me. She sang the words.
“Who is the fairest of them all?
Does it matter anymore?
Deciding which of us will lead
Does it have to be either or?”
The music did a lovely little reel in which she did a step that I followed.
I realized she had taken the lead.
This inspired everyone else to join us.
Marian led Oriana onto the floor.
My mother started to dance with my father but ended up dancing with her favorite, who seemed delighted at the attention.
My father claimed Lord Gerald as a partner. The two of them quickly learned how to trade leads in a surprisingly elegant fashion.
Even Harold came onto the dance floor with Opal of all people, although he seemed very keen to chat him up about how much wealth was in the mines.
Men and women, men and men, women and women, and the dwarves with a variety of folks joined us. Everyone danced together even as my princess and I danced.
I wasn’t sure if this ending counted as happily ever after, but it was a good start.
About the Author
K.S. Trenten lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two cats when she’s not traveling across the many worlds, floating around (and colliding) within her imagination. :)
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rhodrymavelyne/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/rhodrymavelyne
Website: www.inspirationcauldron.wordpress.com
Other books by K.S. Trenten
Seven Tricks (December 2017)
“At Her Service” – short within Once Upon a Rainbow, Volume Two (January 2018)
Gingerbread
Riza Curtis
Chris, for every time you said, “Yeah, but what if…”
Chapter One
“HOMOPHOBIC ASSHOLE OR supernatural asshole?”
Erik pondered the question for a moment. “Homophobic supernatural asshole?” The suggestion hung in the air while he studied the whiteboard once more. A dozen photographs of young men covered the surface, held in place by magnets. Handwritten notes in several different styles filled the empty spaces. Erik had stared at the board so many times he could recite the names and comments by heart. Studying the notes did no good.
“So we have a dozen young men who just disappeared over the last two months without a single trace?”
Erik turned his attention to Michaela “Dragon” Lawson, who had asked the question. Skepticism dripped off her every word. Michaela was the hard-as-nails head of Supernatural Liaisons, the unofficial government branch for dealing with the other kinds.
“No bodies have turned up, and there’s been no contact with any of the men.”
“Well, do we have any leads?” Michaela aimed the question at the room in general, spitting out the words as was her habit. There was a rumor circulating that she was either a dragon shifter or some kind of robot. Erik glanced around the room, but the team was carefully avoiding eye contact.
“How about cyber?” Michaela’s voice sharpened further. Erik winced. Michaela was not happy, and he preferred his balls attached to his body.
“Still on it, boss.”
“Well, get on it faster. I’ve got the mayor riding me over this after those stupid humans spent eight weeks failing to get anywhere.”
Erik watched Michaela storm off and barely resisted the urge to huff out a sigh of relief when the door slammed behind her.
“We better bust our balls over this, boys and girls, otherwise the Dragon will eat them for breakfast,” Alice, the team lead, cautioned. Erik was glad to hear he wasn’t the only one thinking along those lines. “Silas, you’re profiling these men. Talk to Noah if you think it’ll help. Craig, you need to find something on their PCs, anything that these guys have in common. Erik, you’re with me.”
Erik rolled his eyes and let out a theatrical groan at her command.
“Erik Stuart!” Alice barked. “Don’t be like that.” She narrowed her eyes and plastered on an angelic-looking smile that was all teeth. “We’re doing social media.”
Erik moved to sit at the desk beside Alice, his half-finished coffee placed near one arm, precariously close to several piles of paperwork. They divided the men between them to study. Craig would look at the bigger picture, slowly chewing through all the data they had accumulated, while Alice and Erik would look at the human side. Going through victims’ social media was both fascinating and disturbing. He hated this part. Some of these guys were just kids, and each photo and post online was a little window into their life—their thoughts and feelings, their hopes and dreams as they showed them to the world.
“Anything?” Alice’s voice drew Erik out of his thoughts and away from the profile page he had been staring at.
“Nothing.” He shrugged and glanced at the clock. How had that much time passed already? “Maybe we’re going about this wrong?”
Alice tilted her head in an invitation for him to continue.
“Maybe there’s an outside connection?” Erik suggested. “They’re all male, right, and they’re all gay? Maybe it’s a real-life link like they met at Pride or at a club or something?”
“I’d bet on the club.” Craig leaned against the doorframe, a cocky grin on his face.
“You found something,” Alice stated. Her eyes lit up and a ghost of a smile graced her lips before she was all business once more.
Craig nodded. “It’s early days,” he warned, “but every account makes references to a new club.”
Alice stood up and kissed Craig’s cheek. “Excellent start!” The team lead walked away, leaving Craig gazing after her. Erik waited for Craig to realize he had been caught staring and waggled his eyebrows. Craig flushed red.
“Shut up, Stuart,” he hissed. “I’ve seen you eyeing up a certain geeky witch.”
Erik laughed at the barb but didn’t bother to deny Craig’s words.
The two men trailed after Alice into the main room where she had gathered the rest of the team. The geeky witch in question was also there, and Erik couldn’t help but smile when he saw Noah. Noah Coleman was the department’s official recordkeeper and case advisor; the investigative team’s unofficial fifth member.
“Craig found something,” Alice announced as they settled into seats. Taking that as an invitation, Craig moved to the front of the room and took over.
“All of the men’s online profiles made reference to this exclusive club,” Craig said. “Some sort of posh gay bar in the
middle of nowhere.”
“Do we know if they actually went to the club?” Erik asked.
“Not at the moment,” Craig admitted. “The bar has a super strict social media policy, no-mobiles-allowed kind of thing, so it’s a case of talking to friends, trawling through texts and online messages to confirm whether they all went or not.”
Silas rose, and everyone turned to look at him. A man of few words, the empath was a genius, and Erik made a point of listening when he spoke.
“From the profiles I’ve created, I would say it is extremely likely that these men would have gone to a club, especially an exclusive one. They all are, or possibly were, rich kids who liked to flaunt their wealth.”
Alice considered this, clicking her pen a few times. “What do we know about the club itself?”
“It’s called Gingerbread. Other than that there’s virtually nothing online, like I said,” Craig replied.
“Some kind of hipster club?”
Craig shrugged so Alice moved on.
“Anything from you, Noah?”
Noah’s face screwed up as he concentrated. “No,” the witch said apologetically. “No similar cases come to mind.”
Alice sighed and glanced at the wall clock. “We’ll break for lunch then. Craig, this is the best—well, only lead we’ve got. Find anything you can on whether these guys actually visited the club.”
“DO YOU WANT to grab lunch?”
Erik looked up to see Noah in front of his desk. They went for lunch together whenever they could. Once upon a time, Erik had wondered if their friendship was going to lead to anything more, but he’d never been sure enough to make the first move. Now he just took it as it was and enjoyed the time with Noah.
“Sure,” he agreed. “Just let me clean up.”
They met at the entrance to the building a few minutes later. Noah had put a coat over his usual trouser-and-waistcoat combo. An adorable knitted scarf was wound around his neck, hanging slightly uneven in a way that meant it was probably handmade. The cold air had given Noah rosy cheeks, and Erik longed to twine his hands in the fabric and use it to tug Noah into a kiss.
“Erik?”
Erik realized that Noah had been talking to him while he had been daydreaming and felt himself flush in embarrassment. “Sorry,” he apologized. “I zoned out.”
Noah laughed and repeated the question. “Where do you want to eat?”
“How about the sandwich bar one over?” Erik suggested. They were spoiled for choice so close to the center of the city, but this particular one was a favorite. They walked along the sidewalk, dodging the tourists who were far too busy gawping to notice that they were in everyone’s way.
It was just a short walk to the cafe. The outside of the building needed a lick of paint and a decent amount of DIY before it would win any beauty awards, but Erik preferred it that way. The ugly shell kept out everyone but the locals. The inside was clean and the food was good, and that was all that mattered. Erik held the door open for Noah and followed him in, a small bell tinkling above their heads to announce their presence. Erik walked straight to the counter while Noah selected a table. They had eaten together enough to get the procedure down to a fine art. By the time Erik was laden with coffee and food, Noah had ditched his overcoat and scarf and was grabbing napkins from the side counter. They ate quickly and quietly. After many lunches interrupted and ruined by calls back to the office, they had learned to do food first and chatter later. It worked for them.
Erik finished his sandwich first and sipped at his drink while Noah had the last few bites of his own food.
“Good?” he asked when Noah was done.
Noah nodded. “Yeah, love the food here.” Noah started on his own drink. “Hey, how’s your mom doing?”
Erik loved the fact that Noah took the time to learn things about everyone. Small talk never felt like small talk because Noah genuinely cared.
“She’s loads better,” he told Noah, unable to stop the smile on his face. “She’d love to see you again.”
Noah laughed. “She’d love to see her boy more,” he teased. “I’ll pop by on Sunday. I’m sure she’ll have an opinion about my knitting.”
Erik chuckled at that. “Wait, did you make that scarf?”
Noah flushed slightly pink and fingered the knitwear that was draped across the back of his seat. “Yeah,” he admitted. “Needed a hobby to keep myself busy.”
Noah seemed embarrassed and glanced away as if unsure, so Erik nudged him. “And where’s mine?”
The relief was visible when Noah smiled. “Would you like one?”
“Absolutely.”
They managed a whole hour uninterrupted, a rare pleasure as Erik was regularly called away in a hurry. Before their lunch break was up, they left the café and walked back, then split off as Noah headed to his own department.
Alice was still flapping around Craig when Erik went into the main room, so he avoided the two of them and headed for Silas.
“Hey, did I miss anything?”
Silas waved his hand in a way that meant yes and no. “Craig confirmed that at least three of the men went to Gingerbread but can’t find a positive or negative on the others.” Erik nodded and Silas continued. “Michaela is halfway to a tantrum. Steer clear.”
Erik nodded his thanks and collapsed into his desk chair. He didn’t have half the skills Craig did with a computer, but even he could manage a basic search on the club. The page filled with results, but barely two were helpful and the little information they contained was no more than he had already been told. The website for the club was quirky with a gingerbread man logo but had no information other than an address and opening hours. He searched for the club name as a tag on a few social media sites, but there was nothing. Frankly Erik hadn’t thought it was possible to remain that dark on the net these days. He had just about admitted defeat when Noah burst into the room, looking for all the world like someone had shoved a hot poker up his ass. His face was beetroot red, and he was trotting at a speed that bordered a run. Two point eight seconds later, the door opened again and the Dragon stormed in. Well, that explained the terrified expression Noah was wearing.
“Team meet,” Michaela commanded. “Now.”
Erik rose and headed straight for the other room, the other team members not far behind. Alice was first for the inquisition, stumbling through a quick explanation of where the team was. Michaela’s lips thinned with annoyance at the lack of progress.
“This bar, Gingerbread?” Michaela said the name as if it had personally offended her. “That’s the best we have?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Alice had a tendency to become super formal when Michaela was in a pissy mood, and Erik didn’t blame her. He was barely resisting the urge to salute whenever she looked over.
“And it’s suspicious that they have no web presence?”
Craig took one for the team and answered. “Not necessarily,” he explained. “They are branding themselves as ultra-exclusive. The lack of web presence may be an attempt to add mystique to the club.”
Michaela hummed. “I want people on the inside. It’s our best lead so far, and I want it followed up.”
Alice nodded and began tapping away at her tablet.
Michaela turned to face Alice who dropped the device on her desk midsentence to pay attention. “Your team will continue looking into other avenues of investigation while Stuart and Coleman go undercover.”
“What?” The outburst had come from Alice, although Erik wouldn’t have been surprised to realize it had been him.
“We’re sending in two agents to visit the club. We need eyes on the inside for this one.” Michaela said the words slowly as if she was talking to a particularly dim individual.
“No—”
“—No.”
Erik glanced at Noah, surprised to hear his own sentiments echoed so vehemently. The people in the room fell so silent that he could hear footsteps from the corridor when people walked past. There was a moment wher
e it seemed like everyone in the room was afraid to even breathe. People did not argue with Michaela. It just wasn’t done.
“I’m not an investigator.” The words came out too quietly to have any kind of power behind them. Noah wrung his hands together. “I’m not even part of this team. I spend my days in the library, for goodness sake. I don’t have any field experience.”
Michaela sent the witch a withering look that made Erik cringe on Noah’s behalf.
“I’m not asking a lot of you, Mr. Coleman. We’re clutching at straws here. All you need to be is a second pair of eyes. Think of it as a paid evening out.”
The look wasn’t enough to stop Noah from continuing to argue. “What good am I against any other supernatural?” Noah asking, his volume increasing as panic crept in. “Some big demon isn’t going to stop and let me draw runes on the floor before it tries to eat me!”
Michaela silenced him with a new look that could have frozen hell. “This club is more than likely to be a dead end, Noah, and I’ve seen your scores. You exceed the requirements this agency has for active agents.” Her tone softened fractionally. “You’ll have Erik with you, and I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t think you were capable, but these missing men need you.”
Noah’s expression did not change, but Erik saw the way his shoulders slumped and knew that he had accepted defeat.
Erik’s heart ached at the thought of taking Noah with him on an active investigation. An evening alone in a club with his crush sounded amazing, but if things turned out badly… No matter what Michaela said about it being an afternoon off, it was a naïve officer who didn’t acknowledge the potential dangers of the job. Erik knew that they would follow any leads to the best of their ability. It was the very least that the missing men deserved. But taking Noah into the field? The idea of Noah on the front line made him nervous, no matter what his test scores were.
HE DRAGGED NOAH out of the office, ignoring several pointed looks from both Michaela and Alice. They ended up back at the shop they had shared lunch in. Noah was silent beside him. He hadn’t said a word since Michaela’s order. Erik had never seen Noah so quiet and unwilling to look him in the face. Could it be fear? Cowardly was not a word that Erik had ever associated with Noah.
Once Upon a Rainbow, Volume One Page 17